Earth  ID: 2909

Wildfire Growth around Yellowstone National Park in 1988 (WMS)

Visualizations by Eric Sokolowsky Released on February 13, 2004
During the summer of 1988, wildfires burned about 1.4 million acres in and around Yellowstone National Park. Spurred by the driest summer in park history, the fires started in early July and lasted until early October. The worst day was August 20, when tremendous winds pushed the fires to burn over 150,000 acres. Although the scars from these fires are still visible in Landsat imagery from space over ten years later, the patchwork nature of the fire footprint left many unburned areas from which plant species have regenerated very successfully. This animation shows how the fires progressed in the period from June 30 though October 2, 1988, by which time the fall rain and snow had stopped the fire growth. These maps are based on daily ground observations by fire lookouts in the park and by infrared imaging cameras flown over the park at night. These observations are considered accurate to within about 100 meters.
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This animation shows the progression of the fires in and around Yellowstone National Park during the summer of 1988, overlayed on a false-color image from Landsat 7. Independent fires are shown in different colors, and the most recently burned areas are shown in a brighter color.

This product is available through our Web Map Service.
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This is the legend for the Yellowstone Fires animation, identifying the names of the fire regions.
 

Related

Yellowstone's Burn Scars

For More Information

http://sagemap.wr.usgs.gov/ftp/wyoming/NPS/yell_fire88perim.htm

Visualization Credits

Eric Sokolowsky (GST): Lead Animator
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Steve Maher (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Robert Stevens (USGS): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/2909

Mission:
Landsat

Data Used:
Landsat-7/ETM+
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Fire Perimeters
Data Compilation - USGS - 1988/06/30 - 1988/10/02
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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
WMS

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
DLESE >> Natural hazards
DLESE >> Physical geography
SVS >> Yellowstone National Park
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Agriculture >> Forest Science >> Forest Fire Science
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Biosphere >> Ecological Dynamics >> Fire Occurrence
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Human Dimensions >> Natural Hazards >> Fires
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0